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New Castle County Jury Duty 2008: Time Served

1/17/2008 8:49:00 AM

My recent experience with jury duty in New Castle County has come to a close. Although I didn't get a chance to do very much, I learned a lot about the process. For those of you living in New Castle County, Delaware, here is an overview of the jury duty process:

You receive a sternly-worded notice in the mail. This notice contains a demand that you report and a questionnaire about your background.

Next, you are expected to reply with the questionnaire. Optionally, you are able to cite reasons why you are unable to attend.

If you elected to cite reasons for being unable to attend, you should expect a strongly-worded "REQUEST DENIED" postcard to arrive in about 7 days. The county makes it very clear that they place no value on your time whatsoever; and that "they" get to call the shots.

On the day of your service, you report to the courthouse. Generally, you are to report at 8:30 AM. I'd recommend arriving at the parking garage around 8:00 AM. Expect traffic, as it's in the center of the city.

Expect to go through the intrusive "security" screening. Remember to leave you cell phone in the car. Additionally, the court prohibits PDA's, iPods, and nearly anything electronic that isn't a laptop.

Next, you will check in at "Suite 1800", the jury duty "holding tank". It's a big room which seats at least 300 people.

Shortly after check-in, you'll be shown a movie about how lucky you were to be chosen.

Now you wait. I hope you remembered to bring a book (or perhaps a laptop). No internet access is available for laptops, but there are a few heavily-restricted web terminals in the side room. There are five of them. You may have trouble securing one. Note: This room also contains more comfortable chairs than anywhere else in the courthouse.

It's possible that you may be called to audition for a jury, but the odds aren't very good. In our group of about 200, only about 40 were called to even audition. Most of us just sat around until the trials concluded.

I apologize if I sound critical of the experience. Truthfully, I have no objections to serving on a jury. However, I do have objections to how the process is administered. It seems very silly to me that of 32 scheduled jury cases on 01/16/2008, only a single case required a jury. This could easily have been settled without requiring 200 people to lose a day of work. Additionally, the court really needs to learn some manners. I would have been in a much more favorable mood, had I not been treated like a criminal at every step.

Regardless, I'm off the hook for at least two years. Behold my glorious certificate: